Sigur Ros...Acoustic?

Earlier today I picked up Sigur Ros's double cd Hvarf/Heim and am currently enjoying my initial listen. Essentially a collection of rarities, the first disc Hvarf contains previously unreleased studio songs while disc two, Heim, is composed entirely of acoustic versions of select songs(including one of my favs vaka off the () album).

Now I don't really like to mention this on here, since, for the most part it's shameless ego-boosting; however, this time I figure it's relevant. For those who don't know, I write a monthly column "Sounding Icelandic" for a local Icelandic newspaper called The Logberg that covers anything falling within the vast range of "Icelandic" and "Music". This means I discuss /review /interview /briefly mention any artists from Iceland as well as any musicians with Icelandic backgrounds (The Weakerthans, for example). Anyways, I must confess I am less than impressed with Sigur Ros's North American record label xl recordings, since we (the editor and I) tried repeatedly to get an advance copy of this album so I could include it in my column. Now I'm not against buying it, I just wanted the freakin' thing early in order to include it in my latest column (it's monthly, after all and must be submitted early). But all attempts to contact them were miserable failures - emails bounced back, phone calls went nowhere. Oh well. It'll have to wait until THE JANUARY issue. This record will be old then!

A tad frustrated.

Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans are at The Burt on March 2nd. Special guest is Hayes Carll. It's country, but good.

Silverstein plays The Garrick on February 4th w/ guests Protest The Hero, Ill Scarlett, and The Devil Wears Prada (isn't that a movie?). Tickets go on sale this Friday.

Current rotation: Sigur Ros - Hvarf/Heim